


the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake

by aformofmotion



Series: lest your skin give you away [3]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Experimental Style, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-26
Updated: 2014-03-26
Packaged: 2018-07-14 14:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7174748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aformofmotion/pseuds/aformofmotion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neither of them know how love on your skin is supposed to feel.</p>
<p>A not!soulmates AU where people can feel love through their skin. Written in tumblrfic style.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake

**Author's Note:**

  * For [doctorenterprise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctorenterprise/gifts).



> “It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”  
> ~Frederick Douglass
> 
> This was originially posted on my tumblr as a birthday present for Sydney.

it’s not so much soulmates as it is that your skin can feel when someone is in love with you, so when jim finally convinces bones to sleep with him and his skin feels like it’s on fire he think maybe just this once the universe has decided to be kind to him, but then he wakes up alone and realises that no, of course not, why the hell would bones be in love with _him_ , he knows better, must’ve just been projecting, and he lets himself wallow in it for an hour then packs it up, dries his eyes, and resolves to never let bones see how much his heart breaks just looking at him, because bones clearly has no interest in being loved by him.

he starts wearing longsleeves and gloves and touching him less so he won’t make him uncomfortable, he misses skin contact but he’ll do whatever it takes to keep bones in his life, he stops sleeping around not cos he harbours even the tiniest bit of hope but because following that with anything less would be… crass, the memory of it is enough for him, it really is, and then one day bones wakes him up with a hand on his shoulder and he mumbles a sleepy "hmm?" at him and bones asks "is there a reason you’re over here moaning my name like a two-bit whore in your sleep?" and jim blushes like "sorry" and bones is like "okay, but that isn’t what i asked" and if jim were all the way awake he wouldn’t answer, or at least not so honestly, but he isn’t and he does like "bones, i’ve had sex with _deltans_ that wasn’t that good" and bones blinks at him surprised like "jim. have you never had sex with someone who was in love with you before?" and jim is suddenly wide awake and he jerks away nearly off the bed like " _that’s not what it was_ "  and bones just looks at him until he has to look away like "but you _left_ " and bones frowns like "of course i left, it was pretty obvious you didn’t reciprocate and i tried that with jocelyn, it doesn’t work out so-" and he gets cut off by jim grabbing at his wrist despite his no-touching policy like "you don’t feel that?" and bones shakes his head slowly confused and jim looked like he’d grabbed a live wire but now he just looks scared and he drags bones toward the door like "hospital. now" and bones is even more confused but he follows along anyway like "what, why?" and jim mutters at him through gritted teeth like "because i’ve been in love with you for at least eight months and if you can’t tell then something’s wrong with you, come _on_ "

and six hours, several tests, and a surgery later jim manages to get them back to the dorm with the words 'brain tumour’ and 'just in time’ still bouncing in his head and once the door is shut behind them bones grabs his hand and makes a sharp involuntary sound and jim tries to pull away but bones holds on tighter like "jim, you-" and then he stops and gets jim to look at him like "jim. you thought i felt this _and walked away?_ " and jim shrugs helplessly like "i thought you didn't want it" _didn't want me_ and it hangs in the air between them for a second, jim's eyes glued to the place their skin touches and bones tugs him forward and slides his free hand around the back of jim's neck and jim leans into the touch and lets himself be drawn in until their foreheads are touching, lips scant millimeters apart like "you were wrong" and then "i love you" like he knows jim needs to hear it and jim opens his mouth to say it back, surely bones needs to hear it too, it was his skin that was misfiring, but the words end up muffled against bones' mouth and after a half second of surprise he's kissing back desperately, nerves singing everywhere they touch and bones breaks the kiss long enough to gasp "skin" and tug on jim's shirt and jim mumbles "yeah, okay" and shrugs it off and shudders when bones wraps his arms around him, palms splayed across his back and he tips forward to press his face into bones' neck and bones sighs like "no wonder you were dreaming about this" and jim nuzzles into him, reassured that he won't be pushed away for touching and bones tightens his arms around him and holds him closer


End file.
